The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 in honor of the 400th anniversary of Columbus' voyage.

SOURCES: latinamericanhistory.com, history.com, University of Rochester River Campus library

Columbus Day has been a national holiday in the United States since 1937 and observed well before that.

Since 1971, the holiday has been set on the second Monday in October.

But its observance is not without controversy.

Opponents of the holiday claim that Christopher Columbus is no historic icon for a number of reasons, including his treatment of the natives when he made landfall somewhere in the Caribbean Sea - not in what is now the United States.

Proponents argue that his coming to the New World was historically significant. Italian-Americans also use the day to celebrate their heritage.